AAJ Announces Winners of 2023 Student Trial Advocacy Competition

Washington, DC — The American Association for Justice (AAJ) congratulates the UCLA School of Law Team 2 for winning the 2023 Student Trial Advocacy Competition (STAC) on Sunday, April 2. The winning team’s members include Edouard Goguillon, Sophia Cherif, Alex Greer and Sydney Gaskins who was awarded "Best Advocate" in the National Finals.
Twenty STAC finalist teams gathered in New Orleans to compete for the national title from March 30 to April 2. UCLA Team 2 competed against the Cumberland School of Law Team 1 (Samford University, Birmingham, Ala.) in the final round.
The semifinalists were Chicago-Kent College of Law Illinois Institute of Technology & New York University School of Law. Quarterfinalists included Cumberland School of Law Team 2, South Texas College of Law, University of Michigan and Mercer University.
STAC is a competition open to all law schools nationwide. For over 30 years, AAJ has sponsored STAC to provide law students with an opportunity to develop and practice essential trial advocacy skills in front of distinguished members of the bar and bench. AAJ and its attorney members commit their time and talents to STAC to help both develop and judge the competition.
"With the STAC competition back in person, there was great energy and enthusiasm about the future of our nation’s trial bar," said AAJ President Tad Thomas. "I was honored to judge alongside fellow attorneys and AAJ President-Elect Sean Domnick. We were impressed with the trial skills of participants, especially our winners and look forward to hosting the team at our annual convention in Philadelphia this summer." 
In announcing the winners, AAJ thanked: The AAJ Law School Committee Chairs who dedicated their time, effort, and support to ensure the competition was a success: Maria Glorioso (New Orleans,), Lauren Barnes (Boston), Fred Schultz (Bloomington, Ind.) and Sara Williams (Birmingham, Ala.). Judge Jim Roberts at Cumberland, Liz Lippy at Temple, Robert Little at Baylor, and Susan Poehls at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. The following individuals for their tireless work coordinating the regional and national final competitions: Lauren Barnes, Rachel Downey, Domenic Sanginiti, Megan Whiteside, Matt Nace, Karl Amelchenko, Matt Lee, Jacob Morse, Heidi DiLorenzo, Kyle Ring, Dominic LoVerde, Rachel Sykes, Karen Beyea-Schroeder, Ken Johnson and Daniel Pierson. Maria Glorioso at The Glorioso Firm and Scott Bickford at Martzell, Bickford & Centola for hosting the competition in New Orleans. AAJ members, lawyers, and sitting judges in New Orleans who ensured a successful competition by volunteering their time and expertise to help judge the competition.
The winning team will be honored at AAJ’s 2023 Annual Convention, which will be held in Philadelphia this July.

CONTACT Carly Moore Sfregola Email: Carly.Sfregola@justice.org Phone: 202.684.9609